Andy Fenn sprinted to a strong third place after a fast finish to stage two at the Tour of Norway. The Scot was helped by lead-out work from Chris Sutton in the closing kilometres before bagging a podium place, just behind stage winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).

The Norwegian made it two from two in his home race, out-sprinting Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge) after 199km of action. Lars Petter Nordhaug kept his general classification hopes on track on home ground and finished safely in the peloton despite a late puncture on the run for home.

Forced to stop and chase back on with 13km to go, the Tour de Yorkshire winner was helped by team-mate Nathan Earle before drafting his way back through the cars to re-join the bunch. Sensing the finale would be difficult to control, David Lopez jumped clear with 6km to go, combining with Bob Jungels (Trek Factory Racing) in a brief move before Katusha regained control.

The stage headed through Tønsberg where Nordhaug hails from, with five escapees gradually chased down with help from MTN Qhubeka, Katusha, Orica-GreenEdge and representation from Team Sky.

After the stage Sports Director Gabriel Rasch talked Team Sky’s website through a tricky moment for Nordhaug, and looked ahead to a potentially decisive third stage.

"Lars Petter got a flat tyre and Nathan waited for him," he confirmed. "He managed to get back to the car convoy and from that point he was okay. He was able to move up car by car. It was definitely not ideal but it was all good once he got back into the bunch.

"I’m happy with how Andy and CJ have been working together. CJ really committed to it and did a super job. They talked together about doing an earlier lead-out and dropping Andy on Kristoff’s wheel. They did that perfectly and third was a nice result.

"Tomorrow is the big mountain stage. We’re going over a really historic mountain where the Second World War was fought. It’s a new one for the race and we got over 1200 metres in altitude. It’s obviously a big stage for us and Lars Petter and David are our guys. They are feeling good so we’ll see what happens. Two days ago the road was closed because of snow so it should be pretty spectacular to watch and race on."